Is Anyone in Control?

The following are thoughts of our nation on a Labor Day weekend following a summer of fires in the West, hurricane winds in the South, floods in the East, and a government run amok, printing phony wealth, deserting allies and dishonoring patriotic service. Good grief!

First thought: Yeats.

Turning and turning in the widening gyre
The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world….
The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.
Surely some revelation is at hand….¹

Are we coming unglued, or are we no better or worse off than when Yeats wrote these words following World War I, or in 1941 or the late 1960’s? And yet it does seem to me that the physics of discontent and discord may indeed overwhelm the core of order and civility if no one is really in control.

Second thought: God is in control.

One thoughtful fellow whose “musings” I read regularly finds comfort in his understanding from Scripture that God is in control. Human leaders are free to choose, but their choices are directed by God—a biblical truth notwithstanding the logical contradiction.² Indeed, Scripture assures us, “God is sovereign over all kingdoms on earth and gives them to anyone he wishes” Dan. 4: 25b. Let every person be subject to the governing authorities; for there is no authority except from God, and those authorities that exist have been instituted by God, Ro. 13:1. All power exercised by humans on earth comes from God. When Pilate warned Jesus that he had power to release Jesus or crucify him, Jesus replied, “You would have no power over me unless it had been given you from above,” Jn. 19:11. Is God then directing us toward chaos?

Third thought: God is in charge, but not yet taking control

Since God incarnated part of Godself in Jesus, ascended Jesus back to God, and brought us the Holy Spirit to assist us, God seems to have taken somewhat of a back seat position. While God gives us direction and comfort through the actions of the Spirit, and surely intervenes in personal circumstances, for which there is much evidence, God seems to be abiding all manner of human behavior and consequence within the structures God has created. Biblical scholar N.T. Wright reflected on the Ro. 13.1, quoted above, in his commentary on the Epistle, “The authorities are part of the present world order, the good and wise structure of God’s original creation.” Karl Barth, in his commentary on Romans, engaged in a complex analysis of Paul’s thinking on the subject, concluding that all revolt against unjust rulers simply results in a new set of cracked vessels in control. No one can play God because no one is God except God.

The real contradiction then is perhaps the vary notion of free choice among flawed humanity. We are so weak and given to sin in our mortal state, that we are incapable of making a free choice consistent with the sovereign will of God. Therefore, we are destined to bumble about until the Second Coming when God actually takes control. In the meantime, since all collective action necessarily corrupts in compound fashion, our only viable recourse is our personal behavior. “Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good” (Ro. 12:21), and “love your neighbor as yourself” (Ro. 13:9). I take comfort in the knowledge through faith that God is in charge if not yet opting to take control, abiding the widening gyre.

1. Yeats, William Butler, The Second Coming, 1919
2. Roper, David, E-Musings, A Ministry of Idaho Mountain Ministries, Sept. 1, 2021